NYC Tiny Shop said:
[off topic]
Leer,
Sorry to hear of your accident. Would you care to describe how it happened and how you could have prevented it? ...for all of us table saw users? Thanks.
Sure, I am happy to tell the story. Hopefully this might make a few people stop and think the next time they use their table saw.
I've been doing woodworking for about 45 years. I always prided myself on being very careful. That day it happened I even thought I should not work in the shop. My wife was out of town, and I just had this funny feeling. I was cutting strips of exotics for glue-ups to make some cutting boards/platters. I did not have an outfeed table, rather, I was using a roller stand. One piece of wood got hung up, and I reached over the blade with my left hand to fix it. The strip of wood touched the blade, kicked back, and dragged my hand back and thru the blade.
I was lucky. It cut off about a 1/2" of my thumb, just shy of hitting the bone. It happened so fast, I did not feel much pain, and did not even cry our or shed a tear. As I recall, it felt like I'd been stung, that is the best way I can describe it. I ran to my shop sink and ran the would under cold water, then ran upstairs to grab a towel out of the drawer. I wrapped the thumb, and went down to the basement to look for the tip of my thumb. It took a couple minutes, but those minutes seemed like hours. I ran back upstairs and put it in a ziploc bag with ice. But what next? I thought about driving myself to the hospital, buit decided that was probably not a good idea. I called a neighbor that would typically not be home on a Sunday just after noon, but she answered the phone. I said something reassuring and calming like "Julie -- I'm OK, but could you take me to the emergency room. I cut off the end of my thumb?. She had her car backed out of the garage in about 15 seconds!
The ER team cleaned up the cut, and put me on an IV just to be safe, I guess, in case they thought I'd go into shock. It was really kind of surreal. I pulled out my iPhone and took a picture. Then the hand surgeon came in,and he asked if he could take a picture. I could post the picture but it looked pretty grisly. The cut ran diagonally from just above the fingernail on the left side, upwards at an angle that cut the opposite side of the fingernail about midway. The right side of my thumb sort of came to a point. The doctor said he could try to fold that flap over, but he said I would lose my sense of feeling if he sewed it over with a flap of skin. I told him to just cut it off and shape it as needed for healing up pretty evenly. So I had no surgery, per se, they just cleaned the would, and bandaged it, and sent me home. That simple procedure cost $4000. Fortunately, it was covered 100% by insurance.
Most people do not notice it. I was extremely lucky. I could have easily lost a few fingers, and if I had my wrist go thru the blade, possibly lose my hand. It was completely healed in about 6 weeks, as I recall. It was a little tender for a few months, but I went to physical therapy a couple times where they showed me exercises to do, and steps to take to toughen up the wound, so I could pick things up and get my feeling back. After the wound healed, fingerprints grew onto and over the would. That kind of creeped out my wife!
As I mentioned, I do not think of it most days, or when I go to my shop and use the table saw. But going into the shop to maybe do other tasks, like using the lathe, I just don't think about it much.
I will buy a SawStop. I do not want to start an argument with anyone about what the company has done, or has not done. Once you have an injury like this, it changes you forever. PERIOD.
I do treat "Sting" with a healthy dose of respect and caution (I nicknamed the saw Sting because that is what it did to me). I bought a set of two GRR-Rippers, which are fantastic push blocks. It is really a whole system. I also use them on my jointer. But until I own a SawStop, I will not feel as safe as I want. And that is not something you can appreciate until you've had an accident on a table saw or any saw, for that matter.
I still have moments when I think about the accident. I actually cringe, but it is not so much what I did to my thumb, rather, what I could have done that might have prevented me from doing woodworking any more, as well as a lot of other physical activities I enjoy. These reactions may fade over time, but I am not sure I want it to. I am much more safety conscious than before, and I always thought I was pretty safety-oriented.
It can happen to anyone, and it happens in the blink of an eye.
